Monthly Archives: July 2012

July 31, 2012Comments Off on Coastline Tattoo Seeks Grant to Support Community Art

Coastline Tattoo is involved in a co-owned gallery space called Helltown Workshop, also in Provincetown at 237 Commercial street inside Whaler’s Wharf. Kris Smith, the owner of Coastline, works with four other local artists to bring art from the community that doesn’t necessarily get shown in the other more traditional galleries that line the main strip… Read More »

By Durb Morrison I have been tattooing for 22 years of my life currently and have tattooed nearly everyday over the last two decades. Throughout my career, I’ve had many of the common physical discomforts that us tattoo artists get like back aching all the time, forearm pain, numbness in my hand, fingers and forearm, even right ear hearing damage from machines running close to my ear daily. I’ve also worked in a lot of different places… some with the luxury of nice chairs, and some (like conventions) where I was completely folded in half, and leaning forward to get to the client’s tattoo. I twist to the right everyday to dip ink, and grab soap and ointment all while wearing a thick leather belt. The thick belts that I wore and my repetitive twisting while tattooing over the last two decades are what lead to the permanent nerve damage I now have in my left leg… Read More »

Conclusion: New Horizons So what would our society look like if everyone wholeheartedly explored their personal limits, found their edges, played with them, gracefully forgave themselves for inevitable shortcomings and learned to remain steadfast in that shaky, uncertain, sometimes excruciating inner territory? My guess is that the resulting paradigm shift would have vastly positive effects on both the collective and personal levels…Read More »

July 27, 2012Comments Off on TATTOO ARTISTS: Sign up now for the NEW Tattoo Artist Magazine Directory App

We have exciting news to share! It’s official: The Tattoo Artist Magazine Directory app is here! We have worked diligently to create an app unlike any other, one that will highlight you, your work and your shop in the public eye, while simultaneously educating clients about quality tattoo work by exposing them to the best tattoos in the world. Working together we can help raise ARTIST awareness in our culture… To get your profile visit tamdirectory.com.Read More »

Down the Road Living with these concepts begins to have another, more subtle transformative effect: you begin to embrace doing things now for the benefits you’ll reap later, like an expert chess player who thinks 5 moves in advance. Lifting weights once doesn’t guarantee an Olympian’s physique, nor does one meditation session result in total liberation of the mind. But small daily challenges and rational, calculated risks, repeated over a long enough span of time, help cultivate patience and an unshakable trust in yourself that helps you stay focused on your larger goals…Read More »

By Jeff Gogué When I first agreed to attend the tattoo expo in Napoli, Italy… Honestly, I had doubts I would make it. It would be my third trip to Italy in less than a year. I, of course, am honored and grateful to be invited anywhere and would continuously be on the road if it wasn’t for my responsibilities at home. I love adventure and with an ever-present awareness of my own mortality, I want to experience as much as I can before the bell tolls. I wouldn’t call myself a thrill seeker. I hardly call myself a traveler, but I do what I can to make new friends and see new places. Napoli was a new place. Different than the places I’ve been before in so many ways… Read More »

July 26, 2012Comments Off on Nick Baxter: Walking The Razor’s Edge Mini Blog Series (Part IV)

Going Against The Grain One important distinction becomes apparent sometime after embarking on a personal challenge program: that you are suddenly at odds with the prevailing cultural attitude of convenience and pleasure craving. Someone obsessed with meeting and mastering challenges easily develops a counterintuitive yet healthy relationship to discomfort. The uneasiness of this feeling becomes a signpost letting you know you’re following the correct path, rather than a warning sign to turn around or shut down. Suffering (in appropriate amounts) becomes a valuable commodity, a friendly companion in a sometimes-lonely quest for betterment… Read More »

By Dan Henk When I first started tattooing, the industry seemed to be breaking new ground. People like Guy Aitchison, Tom Renshaw and Aaron Caine were redefining what could be done with the form. It was an exciting time. I had been to art school, was doing album covers for bands, illustrations for a few clubs and magazines, and I finally saw that tattooing could be as detailed and complex as any other medium. I had interviewed with DC Comics, and Penguin books and both were very restrictive…Read More »

Expanding the Circle A great way to picture all of this visually is to represent yourself or any person as a circle. Since a circle has no beginning or end, and no corners, openings or angles, it’s perfect for representing the psychological concepts of wholeness and growth…Read More »

By Nicki Kasper There are times in our lives that we’re blessed with real experiences, the kind of experiences that can change us if our eyes are open to them. If you sit quietly and observe… If you can really take in what’s going on around you and reflect on it for a moment, you have a chance to see so much, and you have a chance to better yourself. Tattoo Expo Napoli was one of those experiences for me, and I’m gonna go out on a limb, to a very vulnerable place for me and try to share some things about how it all made me feel…Read More »

The Path Of Resistance Another way of explaining this practice is through the concept of physical resistance. All weight training, bodybuilding, and other fitness modalities are built upon this one inescapable law of physics. For example, a person’s muscles may reach failure and soreness after their first attempt at lifting a designated amount of weight. After the proper sequences of rest and further attempts are followed, the 20th attempt at lifting this same amount of weight may feel effortless, and the weight must then be increased so that the muscles can be challenged to grow stronger once more. In essence, if you undertake some type of challenge enough times in a controlled manner, the task will eventually become easier. Apply the weight resistance metaphor to anything difficult you’ve worked on in your life, and you’ll quickly see a correlation… Read More »

By Tim Hendricks Check it out everyone, True South Relief Fund will be holding a benefit on Saturday, July 28th at True Tattoo in Hollywood. Come on by and show your support for some good people who have been tragically struck on their motorbikes recently, it’ll be a good time and a good positive vibe. I’ll be there helping out with the auction and donating whatever I can. If you can’t make it out then maybe you can donate a few dollars through paypal by clicking the button underneath. Donate at PayPal here: teearrelief@yahoo.com Thank you so much for your support – Tim (Please visit Tim’s blog and the True South Facebook page for more info…)Read More »

By Nick Baxter Introduction: The Terrain Imagine walking a tightrope stretched high above the ground, a wire so taught and thin that to slip to either side would result in certain injury, like traversing the edge of a razor. Behind you lies the wreckage of your former limitations—no turning back! On the horizon awaits the realization of all your life’s goals and dreams. To either side, nihilism and oblivion. Slowly, surely, forward is the way… the only way…Read More »

By Greg Kilday | The Hollywood Reporter Eric Schwartz’s film, narrated by “Machete’s” Danny Trejo, recounts the growth of Black and Grey tattoo art. D&E Entertainment has set Oct. 18 as the nationwide release date for Eric Schwartz’s Tattoo Nation, a documentary about Black and Grey tattoo art. The film is scheduled to play special theatrical screenings in more than 60 cities, following its world premiere in London on Sept. 29 and its Oct. 11 U.S. premiere at the ArcLight Theater in Hollywood…Read More »